New sites; new fishes

This juvenile Horn-nosed boxfish (Ostracion rhinorhynchos) was enjoying chewing on a Comb jelly (Phylum Ctenophora) on the 4th of July 2008 on The Pyramid off Mamutik island so much that it pretty much ignored me despite being metres up in the open. In the past, I have assigned similar juveniles to the species Ostracion cubicus but I've realised it isn't so it has come off my species checklist today. However, an example of a Scorpionfish pretty much convinced me to reintroduce Scorpaenopsis venosa to my checklist and to firm up my diagnoses of examples of Scorpaenopsis possi, so the total species count remains at 329 (before adding new species from 4th July - more in another blog).

As mentioned, the dives on 4th July included The Pyramid - a nice site in good visibility (my first under such conditions) - and the sand slope east of Mamutik island jetty. Perhaps it was their novelty which handed me a good number of new fish sightings. Anyway, along the way I was able to improve on my photos (and associated ID panels) for Surgeonfish Acanthurus xanthopterus, Damselfish Pomacentrus vaiuli, Anemonefish Amphiprion perideraion (not widely found in TARP), Cardinalfishes Apogon ventrifasciatus (it seems externally indistinguishable from A. moluccensis so I will only report A. ventrifasciatus in my checklist - principally because all examples I have seen have have been much smaller than the larger A. moluccensis size listed in FishBase) and the rare Apogon sealei, and lastly Grouper Epinephelus areolatus. I have also added new colour morphs for Shrimpgoby Cryptocentrus cinctus and Cardinalfish Apogon chrysopomus, and being sufficiently different to merit their own ID panels were the non-breeding Damselfish Chromis cinerascens, the Juvenile Triggerfish Balistoides viridescens, and the Adult form of the Parrotfish Chlorurus bleekeri.